The definitive guide to migrating a user's files from Juno

Introduction

The inspiration for this article is simple: I had a user who'd been using Juno (the email service, not the ISP) for about 15 years. She had been on v.5 of the Juno desktop client software; then about 6 years ago when I helped upgrade her computer I got her onto v.8 (which had major improvements including the ability to properly display attachments and HTML-based email content!) She had also been using the Juno dialup ISP up to that point, and I convinced her to go with a broadband solution. I warned her that without needed software updates, Juno's software would become flakey.

Well, surely enough, lately, she's been experiencing instability in the mail database file, resulting in corruptions that had to be fixed using one of the tools we'll learn about below, then re-importing the database file back into Juno so it would work properly again.

The user is on a WinXP Pro computer, fully patched. I honestly don't know how the client software will behave in Win7 or Win8, and I hope I never have to find out.

After a couple of database corruptions within a couple weeks of each other, the user had enough and recognized it was time for a change. I searched and scoured and scrounged and found enough information on the interwebs to push me in the right direction, but I didn't find a guide. I am hoping this guide will help someone in the future - my goal is to put all the info you need in one place!

Steps
(13 total)

1

Clean out the user's Juno email

Smaller data files will make the process go faster - so ask your user to go through their email folders and delete anything they don't need (especially remind them to clean out deleted items and sent items.)

Unzip the file into a working folder on the computer. I used c:\junotools\.

3

Locate the Juno data files

Depending on which version of the Juno software the user is running, the data files will be located in different places. Juno v.5 and earlier seems to put the user data files in c:\program files\juno\USERxxxx (where the x's are replaced with a 4-digit number if there are multiple Juno user accounts installed on the computer.) If there's only one Juno user account on the computer then the folder will be called USER0000.

With Juno v.8 I found the files located in c:\document and settings\all users\application data\juno\isp\OER\USER0000.

In either case, there are 3 files you're interested in: mailbox.bdb, mailbox.atr, and addrbook.nv.

I'm not sure where exactly the files would be located if the Juno software were installed on a Win8, Win7 or Vista machine. You may have to just run a search for them. You should find them all in the same folder, though.

4

Copy the Juno data files to your working folder

Copy (don't move!) mailbox.bdb, mailbox.atr, and addrbook.nv to the working folder you created in step 2 - in my case, this is c:\junotools, and I will reference this folder for the remainder of the article.

5

Use juno5bdb to convert the bdb file to MBOX format

Now it's time for some action. Open up a command prompt by clicking start-->run and typing CMD in WinXP. Use DOS commands to change to your working directory (type cd\junotools ).

Run the juno5bdb tool using this command line:
juno5bdb -mbox

Depending on the size of the mailbox.bdb file, it could take a little while. The 3.5 GB mailbox.bdb file of the user I was working with took about 7-10 minutes to process.

Once finished, you'll have a new subfolder in your working folder called MBOX. Inside will be a file for each of the mail folders.

6

Install Netscape Communicator

It is worth noting that I first attempted to use the latest Eudora (which as of this writing has turned into an open source project with Mozilla Thunderbird) and had no success importing the MBOX files. I then tried the last commercial version of Eudora from 2005, and was able to import the files but the attachments were rendered as code and unusable...so finally I tried good old Netscape Messenger.

Anyway, install Netscape Communicator, and fire up Netscape Messenger once the install completes. Skip over configuration of an email server.

Locate where Netscape Messenger's files are stored. In my install, these files were in c:\program files\netscape\users\default\mail. You're in the right place if you see things like "inbox", "deleted items", "sent", "drafts", etc.

7

Put your MBOX files into Netscape Messenger's folder

IMPORTANT: quit out of Netscape Messenger before doing this!
Copy the files from c:\junotools\mbox to the Netscape Messenger data folder you found at the end of step 6. I'd recommend copying and not moving here...that way if you foul up a file you won't have to redo step 5.

8

Restart Netscape Messenger...

Startup Netscape Messenger, and you should see all your Juno email folders! In this step, you must click on each folder so that Netscape Messenger can create a TOC file (a table of contents file) for each folder, essentially cataloging each one. This is also a good time to review the content of each folder yourself and confirm that formatting looks right, attachments are properly visible either within the body of the message or as attachments.

Again - you must click each folder you wish to eventually import to Outlook so the TOC can be built. Building the TOC files may take a minute or two for really large folders.

When finished, close Netscape Messenger.

9

Import to Outlook Express

In this step, fire up Outlook Express. Skip over any configuration of email servers.

Click File-->Import. Then click Messages. After clicking Next, choose Netscape Communicator. When prompted, make sure the path to Netscape Messenger's data files is specified properly. If everything's clicking right, you'll see all your mail folders from Netscape Messenger, and you can select which ones you'd like to import (you can deselect any of them you want to skip importing, such as inbox, sent items, deleted, etc.) Allow the import process to run, and everything should come into Outlook Express and look great to you.

When the import completes, close Outlook Express.

10

Import to Outlook

Ok, last step! Fire up Outlook. Depending on the version, you'll either go to File-->Import and Export or backstage view and then Import. Either way, get the import screen up, and select Internet Mail and Addresses. Click next, then choose Outlook Express, and finally click Import Mail. Let the import run and you should soon see all your email folders, safely brought over from Juno, sitting under Personal Folders in Outlook. I'd personally suggest creating a folder called Juno Mail and importing all the folders into there so they're easily found among any other folders you have.

So now have all your addresses sitting in Outlook, ready to sync to a server if you're using Exchange or an IMAP or MAPI-based email service. Now, be sure and backup your PST file when you get a chance.

11

Whoah, what about the address book?

So there you are, amazed that you followed 10 steps and got all that stuff from the archaic Juno client over to the substantially more modern Outlook...and then you remember all those addresses in the address book. What are you going to do about those?

You can also google "dawn address book converter" for more resources hosting a download of this piece of software.

When I used it, it didn't work 100% as described; Juno was not an option on the list of address book file types. I went out on a limb and selected "plain text." At the next screen I pointed the application to where I had places the addrbook.nv file, in c:\junotools. Then I let the utility run its process, and, glory of glories, it output an addrbook.csv file.

12

Import addresses into Outlook

Switch back over to Outlook, get into the Import tool again, and this time choose "from another program or file" and click Next. Then choose Comma Separated Value (DOS) and click Next. Navigate to where you saved the file that Dawn output. Select your contacts folder as the import target.

Let the import run, and check your Contacts...you should find your Juno address book in there, safe and sound.

13

Grab a burger and a...lemonade

You've finished the process...and what a process it has been. Well done!

Conclusion

There are tools out there that will import MBOX directly to Outlook, but they cost money...anywhere from $40 to $90 in my experience. They have varying reviews also. The process outlined above uses all free tools and works perfectly.

I hope this KB article will be useful to someone in the future as they work to get a user off the woefully outdated Juno software...I know my user isn't unique...surely someone else out there is still using it. When they ask you for help, you can help them out.

One final note - if the user is unable to open their Juno software due to a data corruption, the juno5bdb tool can repair the file and make it where Juno can re-import it. To do the repair, use this command line:
juno5bdb -mbox -ext=frm
(only do this if you really have to, because it wastes time.)

Outlook Express was discontinued in Windows Vista so I guess you have to use XP. I was able to make it all the way through step 8 in Windows 7 by selecting run in compatibility mode for Windows XP SP3 in the shortcut properties for Netscape Messenger. The link step 11 was discontinued on September 30, 2014. I just missed it. I found a few scripts online to do the address book, but they don't work.

For now I'll have to skip to step 13. That's the only step I really wanted anyway. I'll do the other steps later. I'm determined to kill Juno.

And yes, it's evident that you need WinXP since Outlook Express is necessary. That said, it is possible the latest version of Outlook could do the conversion. I don't know, I hope never to have to deal with Juno's data files again.

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